Smackdown Discussion Thread

[King Pitcos]

I wonder if Undertaker plans changed. It seems weird to have him do a promo that one time specifically about not just being around for WrestleMania anymore, then vanish from that night until it's time to set up WrestleMania matches.

[TildeGuy~!]

Rumour has it Vince wants Roman Reigns to take on Taker at Mania now.

 

Credit Da Meltz

[WyattSheepMask]

Yesterday they were saying that no solid plans for Reigns at all.

I see Reigns taking the title from Owens at Royal Rumble through some botched interference from Jericho and he and Owens then feuding into Wrestlemania.

Assuming that he is back in time, surely Finn Balor is the more logical choice to go against (heel-ish) Reigns for the Universal belt. They've got Reigns saying he wanted another crack at Finn and the title after cleanly losing the first time, all the while he's then won the title without having to do so and Finn coming back to reclaim what he hadn't lost. Whether you have that happen through Balor winning the Rumble or not is another issue. As a champion who had to vacate, you would think Foley would grant him an opportunity upon his return, but Finn winning the Rumble cements him as a face that's earned his shot

[Love-Wilcox]

That Alexa Bliss arm thing was great

 

Really enjoyed the main event, Baron Corbin looked the best he's ever been.

[uklaw]

~Apologies in advance. Stream of consciousness, that went on much longer than anticipated. Please feel free to skip~

 

I know we're into 2017 but I just wanted to tip my hat to Smackdown post-Brand Split for being, in my opinion, the better brand in terms of overall product week-to-week.

(I don't include NXT in this as it specifically pertains to the two main shows. Plus it could probably egde both of the others)

 

There's the argument that Raw actually produced the better Network Exclusives/PPV's, but the prospects for Smackdown seem stronger going into this year, as evidenced by the quality of end of year shows.

 

Smackdown's mattered and was presented as if it mattered. John Cena's return didn't harm that, either.

 

But since the split (and I still remember the praise the first Raw show got compared to Smackdown, with praise even going to Braun Strowman for an impressive squash against a mildly memorable enhancement talent, whatever happened to that guy?) Smackdown has made more of its roster matter-especially since most of the star power was elsewhere.

 

AJ Styles and The Miz especially have been the stars of the show with special mention to Baron Corbin. 3 heels who are allowed to be heels without wanting to be 'cool'.

Miz's tirade against Daniel Bryan, his feud with Dolph Ziggler, his promos, look, Maryse and now his storyline with Ambrose and the slap from Renee Young.

 

More of the women were showcased and spread across the show. I might be in the minority but I enjoyed the Nikki Bella/Carmella feud more than I thought. Mainly because they did the opposite of expected and Carmella had Bella's number the majority of the time. She attacked her, pinned her, submitted her and got the better of her. It was a pretty quick turn and good rebuilding job on a character no-one took to as a face. You knew Bella would win in the end but (some) people actually wanted to see it happen.

 

The Nattie turn has been told rather cleverly over the space of about a month. She's bitter, she's jealous, she entitled and she's a liar. Most interesting she's been in a while.

 

Becky Lynch is simply Becky Lynch and I hope she carries on being used the way she is. Alexa Bliss has developed into genuinely one of the most entertaining women on the roster. She has her character nearly spot-on at this point.

 

I was getting a kick out of Eva Marie's antics before her (never-ending) suspension.

 

Randy Orton hadn't needed to maintain the cartwheeling, glad handing he did when he returned and being (at the moment) genuinely part of the Wyatt Family has made him (and them) intriguing.

 

The tag division has taken shape and I'm thankful for American Alpha, The Usos, The Wyatts and even the Fashion Police. Special mention to Slater/Rhyno and the Spirit Squad in the Miz/Ziggler story.

 

Strowman's first jobber post-Split hasn't done too badly for himself, either out of being featured on Smackdown.

 

I believe Smackdown has benefitted from 2 things this year. The first is the shorter running time and the second is a better creative team, specifically Head Writer, Ryan Ward, who I think will end up as WO Booker of the Year 2016 (technically writer as Vince is the booker, of course) an accolade he and Triple H got in 2015 for NXT.

 

It wouldn't surprise me if Vince decided to 'share the wealth' creatively and mix the writing teams this year, especially if there is another draft.

 

Hopefully RAW can get their act together this year and find a way to work with their 3 hours (as I don't think that's going anywhere soon). Though in saying that, I'm seeing the Cruiserweights (aided by 205 Live) starting to put something together. It's just a shame the fans still don't care.

 

*For anyone who read this, I congratulate you and if I could give you the time back I would. Of course, it represents my views only*

[Guest]

AJ Styles and The Miz especially have been the stars of the show with special mention to Baron Corbin. 3 heels who are allowed to be heels without wanting to be 'cool'.

Miz's tirade against Daniel Bryan, his feud with Dolph Ziggler, his promos, look, Maryse and now his storyline with Ambrose and the slap from Renee Young.

 

I can definitely agree with the basis of your point, but AJ Styles is basically the coolest heel that ever did cool. Everything from the music, to the gear, to the moveset. His gimmick practically is just 'cool wrestler'. Even Cena couldn't really find anything bad to say about him last week. Doesn't make me love what he's doing any less, but he's one cool fucker thats for sure

[tiger_rick]

Good post uklaw. Agree with most of that.

 

While they've not done a bad job with theach tag division, they have sidelined American Alpha poorly. For them to then win the tag titles with no fanfare is baffling.

 

Only other worry for SD is that the roster is so thin that I wonder how they can rotate it to keep it fresh.

[Guest]

The tag division was always going to be a toughie once they got split and arguably the two 'money' teams; New Day + Enzo&Cass were put on Raw. At first I thought the weak women's division would be Smackdown's downfall but they've managed to give those girls characters when they had none. It's load easier to make Natalya or Naomi from scratch than it is The Ascension for example

[King Pitcos]

At this point, would there have been any fanfare for building to American Alpha winning the tag titles anyway? Short of re-igniting and properly settling their feud with the Usos which got senselessly dropped, there was really nobody to put in front of them as a final hurdle before challenging the champs. The Ascension, Breezango and Vaudevillains are all at Superstars jobber level. Which will still be a problem for them as champions.

[Guest]

The Usos feud disintegrated with the Smackdown v Raw stuff. as an optimistic fan i can live with them running with that stuff once a year but  I think in future save the SD v Raw business between the men's singles division. it doesnt benefit the women and the tags to be fighting in the same way and the matches arent all that great either so just let the feuds happen come Survivor Series next year. this year's Survivors was good and everything, by every measure, but it just fucked up a load of storyline shit. by Smackdown v Rawing the entire roster they hurt a fair few guys, Seth Rollins being a key one.  i think if Rollins comes out of that Hell In  A Cell PPV furious and ready for revenge, he's in a much better place today rather than coming off as basically meek like he does now

[tiger_rick]

At this point, would there have been any fanfare for building to American Alpha winning the tag titles anyway? Short of re-igniting and properly settling their feud with the Usos which got senselessly dropped, there was really nobody to put in front of them as a final hurdle before challenging the champs. The Ascension, Breezango and Vaudevillains are all at Superstars jobber level. Which will still be a problem for them as champions.

 

You create fanfare by telling the story. Video packages, promos, old timers talking about how great these guys are ahead of a title shot at the Rumble for instance. Or have the Wyatts destroy each team one at a time until the other teams are refusing to even get in the ring with them before Alpha step up.

 

Basically anything except making them an afterthought and then have them win the belts out of nowhere in a multi-team match. They've done such a good job on SD of making people feel important who didn't previously. Alpha are the exception.

[Guest]

yeah while I did appreciate the job-work the New Wyatts did on the other Smackdown. that's a Rumble worthy match, probably like the ideal opening match. not sure why they gave the title change away on TV unless there's another twist in the Wyatt's story besides the inevitable RKO outta nowhere

[Murtz]

 

 

AJ Styles and The Miz especially have been the stars of the show with special mention to Baron Corbin. 3 heels who are allowed to be heels without wanting to be 'cool'.

Miz's tirade against Daniel Bryan, his feud with Dolph Ziggler, his promos, look, Maryse and now his storyline with Ambrose and the slap from Renee Young.

 

I can definitely agree with the basis of your point, but AJ Styles is basically the coolest heel that ever did cool. Everything from the music, to the gear, to the moveset. His gimmick practically is just 'cool wrestler'. Even Cena couldn't really find anything bad to say about him last week. Doesn't make me love what he's doing any less, but he's one cool fucker thats for sure

For me, Edge is the coolest heel of them all. It was just impossible to boo him.

[Merzbow]

I never saw Edge as cool, quite the opposite. I can see that he was trying to play the cool guy but it never worked and he seemed like a nerd trying too hard, possibly my least fav main eventer of his era.

 

AJ's a weird one as he can come across as cool but also a right fucking geek, the one hole in his game right now it not cementing a side.

[Wrasslin]

See in this age I don't think AJ needs to 'pick a side'. No matter what he does a lot of fans will cheer for him simply because he's AJ styles. If anything with Smackdown's roster being so thin it's useful to have a guy who can play both sides at the same time.

 

He's not just better than the Heels, he's not just better than the faces. He's better than everyone and you're either with him or against him. I think he's the perfect guy for that role.